MBA Bussiness Ethics
„Zeszyty Teoretyczne Rachunkowości” Stowarzyszenie Księgowych
tom 93 (149), 2017, s. 7995 w Polsce
ISSN 1641-4381 print / ISSN 2391-677X online
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DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0010.3190
On the role and place of business ethics
in the modern business world – evidence from Estonia
NATALJA GURVITSH *, JAAN ALVER **, LEHTE ALVER ***
Abstract During recent decades, more and more attention has been paid to business ethics. There seems to be an
increasing interest in the non-financial aspects of business. Stakeholders all over the world express their
concern about embedding the principles of professional and business ethics into companies’ everyday
activities. The main subject of this research is business ethics and the purpose is to find out the im-
portance of professional and business ethics and determine its place in the modern business world as seen
by Estonian business students and practitioners. To achieve the goals, the authors conducted a survey
among Estonian graduate and undergraduate accounting and business students at Tallinn University of
Technology and Estonian business practitioners. 587 responses were collected in the process. This infor-
mation was compiled and analyzed based on status, gender, age, and specialization. The survey revealed
that in Estonia people are familiar with business ethics; however, it is not of great interest to them. The
results also indicate that professional and business ethics merit more attention and should be included as
a required course in the curriculum of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). In general, business ethics in
Estonia was not ranked as “high”, which was also the case for both professional ethics at the work-
place/university and also the importance and necessity of ethics in the modern business world.
Keywords: business ethics, professional ethics, education, higher education institution.
Streszczenie
Rola i miejsce etyki biznesu w nowoczesnej gospodarce na przykładzie Estonii
W ostatnich kilku dekadach coraz większe znaczenie zaczęto przypisywać etyce biznesu. Interesariusze
na całym świecie zastanawiają się, jak wdrożyć zasady etyki zawodowej i biznesu w praktyce gospodar-
czej. Celem podjętych badań jest ustalenie ważności etyki biznesu i etyki zawodowej i określenie ich
miejsca w nowoczesnej praktyce gospodarczej według punktu widzenia studentów i praktyków w Esto-
nii. Dla osiągnięcia tego celu przeprowadzono badanie ankietowe wśród absolwentów i studentów kie-
runków rachunkowości i zarządzania na uniwersytecie Tallinn University of Technology oraz wśród
praktyków. Otrzymano 587 ankiet. Informacje były analizowane pod kątem wieku, statusu, płci i specja-
lizacji. Badanie wykazało, że respondenci znają pojęcie etyki biznesu, ale nie jest ona dla nich istotna.
Badanie to wskazuje także na konieczność uwzględnienia zagadnień dotyczących etyki biznesu i etyki
zawodowej w programach nauczania na uczelniach wyższych. Ogólnie ujmując, etyka biznesu w Estonii
nie została oceniona na wysokim poziomie, co także pokazuje, że temu zagadnieniu powinna zostać
poświęcona większa uwaga świata biznesu i nauki.
Słowa kluczowe: etyka biznesu, etyka zawodowa, edukacja, uczelnie wyższe.
* Natalja Gurvitsh, associate professor, School of Business and Governance, Department of Business
Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, natalja.gurvits@ttu.ee ** Jaan Alver, professor, School of Business and Governance, Department of Business Administra-
tion, Tallinn University of Technology, jaan.alver@ttu.ee *** Lehte Alver, professor, School of Business and Governance, Department of Business Administra-
tion, Tallinn University of Technology, lehte.alver@ttu.ee
80 Natalja Gurvitsh, Jaan Alver, Lehte Alver
Introduction
There has been an assumption that the purpose of business is only to make money.
However, in recent decades, more and more attention has turned to professional and
business ethics. There seems to be an increasing interest in the non-financial aspect of
business. Stakeholders all over the world express their concern about embedding the
principles of professional and business ethics in the everyday activities of companies.
From this perspective, the role of accountants is very important to the business com-
munity. The information they provide is of great value to managers, investors, and oth-
ers in making business decisions. At the same time, the nature of the work carried out
by accountants and auditors requires a high level of ethics.
The economic crisis of 2008 and recent financial scandals are often associated with
the unethical behavior of certain groups of stakeholders, which is also confirmed by the
studies of Beverungen et al. (2013). These developments have raised the question:
What is the place and the role of professional and business ethics in the modern busi-
ness world? The practice of large companies to keep close control on ethics at the work-
place via the implementation of their own code of conduct has been accepted and
widely used by many organizations across the world. For many professions, the ethical
aspect has become a matter of great importance and the fulfilment of principles formu-
lated in the ethical code is compulsory, however, in several cases there often happens
to be a gap between the theory and the practice (Bartlett, 2003).
The main objective of the research is to find out how important business ethics is
for Estonian business students and practitioners. To achieve the goal, the authors con-
ducted a survey among graduate and undergraduate business and accounting students
at Tallinn University of Technology and Estonian business practitioners. The authors
believe that the results of the survey would be interesting and useful to both academics
and business practitioners.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: after the literature review, the
authors provide a detailed explanation of the selected research design, the research
methods chosen, and the hypotheses formulated. Then the results of the research and
concluding comments are presented.
1. Literature review
It can be stated that within contemporary research about professional and business eth-
ics, the following trends are widely discussed: the linkage between the level of profes-
sional ethics and the integration of the „professional ethics” subject into the curriculum
of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), and the dependence of professional ethics on
various factors like culture (Brunton and Eweje, 2010; Yi-Hui and Chieh-Yu, 2008),
On the role and place of business ethics in the modern business world – evidence from Estonia 81
religion (Yi-Hui, 2009), age (Rest, 1983; Serwenek, 1992), gender (Borkowski and
Urgas, 1992), and individual attributes (McManus and Subramaniam, 2009). Many
professionals do not consider ethics to be an inevitable part of their everyday work
and they often have no skills or knowledge to solve ethical problems effectively
(Flanagan and Clarke, 2007). This phenomenon may be partly explained by the fact
that, historically, professional ethics has been developed separately and not in line
with the development of the profession itself (Barry and Ohland, 2009). There is also
skepticism towards embedding ethics courses in the curriculum from both the stu-
dents’ and practitioners’ side, which is the case for accounting ethics (Bampton and
Maclagan, 2005).
Consequently, this situation requires the teaching of business ethics in general, and
professional ethics in particular, in HEIs to be reinforced, to make students familiar
with the principles of business ethics and professional codes of conduct (Davidson et
al., 2003). Hill (2004) stated that ethics is an important standalone discipline and should
be separately formulated and studied. Colby and Sullivan (2008) outlined the im-
portance of teaching engineering ethics in undergraduate institutions. According to
Goldie (2000), there has been recognition of the importance of medical ethics educa-
tion, however, no consensus has yet been reached regarding where it should be taught
at the undergraduate level. The teaching of ethics is becoming popular today, which is
also supported by the research of Maruyama and Ueno (2010), who underlined the in-
creasing popularity of teaching ethics in Japan over the last two decades.
The increasing opinion on the necessity to teach business ethics is caused by many
factors, like the growing trend of Corporate Social Responsibility accounting and re-
porting, globalization, the latest developments within the European Union, and even
the implementation of the Bologna process, as highlighted by the research of Jorge and
Peña (2014), among universities in Spain. Potthast (2014) suggests including more pos-
itive cases into courses and showing the benefits of ethical behavior in managing the
interest of stakeholders. Most recent business and accounting textbooks contain either
a separate part dedicated to ethics or there are ethics cases included in each chapter,
however, the content of these cases varies significantly, which is also confirmed by
studies of Bracken and Urbancic (1999). However, in some cases, the „depth” of the
ethical education does not guarantee any benefits for professionals in the recruiting
process. Breaux et al. (2009) revealed that „ethical coverage in accounting programs
is not an important factor in recruiting decisions for entry-level accounting positions.”
It is obvious that, today, business ethics is a tool of communication and interaction
between business and society (Freeman et al., 2009), which should be understood and
implemented by everybody. To some extent, our survey replicates some of the above-
mentioned studies but it also analyses the opinion of Estonian professionals and stu-
dents on the place and role of business and professional ethics in the modern business
world.
82 Natalja Gurvitsh, Jaan Alver, Lehte Alver
2. Data and methodology
After reviewing the literature that exists on business ethics, a survey instrument was
constructed and distributed to graduate and undergraduate accounting and business
students at Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) and Estonian business practi-
tioners1. During the spring and fall of 2015 and February 2016, in total 587 responses
were obtained (Table 1). The vast majority of respondents were Estonians. The data
were compiled and analyzed based on status, gender, age and specialization. Table 1
shows the result of this analysis makeup of the survey.
Table 1. Demographic data of the survey
Status Sample
Students & Practitioners
BA students 155 (26.4%)
MA students 270 (46.0%)
Practitioners 162 (27.6%)
Total 587
Degree
Bachelor 356 (60.6%)
Master 82 (14.0%)
Other 149 (25.4%)
Total 587
Academic Major
Accounting 322 (54.9%)
Business & Economics 179 (30.5%)
Others 86 (14.6%)
Total 587
Gender
Male 148 (25.2%)
Female 439 (74.8%)
Total 587
1 Tallinn University of Technology (TTU) is the only HEI in Estonia which has an Accounting depart-
ment. In Estonia, TTU is the absolute leader in accounting and business education. The accounting curric-
ulum (at both the graduate and undergraduate level) is the most popular among all curricula at the Tallinn
School of Economics of TTU. It is a joint system, which consists of undergraduate and graduate degree
programs. At the graduate level, 88 ECP out of 120 ECP (including master’s thesis), or 73.3% of the whole
curriculum, are related to accounting.
On the role and place of business ethics in the modern business world – evidence from Estonia 83
Table 1. Demographic data of the survey (cont.)
Status Sample
Age
< 26 233 (39.7%)
26–35 174 (29.7%)
36–45 110 (18.7%)
> 45 70 (11.9%)
Total 587
Source: authors’ own compilation
The sample characteristics suggest that the largest group comprised graduate stu-
dents (46% of all respondents and 63.5% of all students). Gender differentiation shows
the domination of females (74.8%). The area of specialization (the dominant major)
has been divided into the following: accounting 54.9%, business & economics 30.5%,
and all others 14.6%.
The survey consisted of 15 statements related to business ethics and was broken
down as follows: 10 main statements and 5 additional statements. Each argument rep-
resents an opinion about business ethics. The main survey instrument was a five-point
Likert scale. The respondents were asked to rank each opinion from 1 to 5 in order to
express their agreement or disagreement with each statement. Such a method of ascrib-
ing a quantitative value to qualitative data made it amenable to statistical analysis. In
the first part of the survey (10 main statements) a score of 1 represented strong agree-
ment and 5 – strong disagreement. Statements 1–7 in the first part of the survey repre-
sent a general understanding of business ethics, and statements 8–10 represent a cogni-
tive attitude. In the second part (statements 11–15) a score of 1 represented strong dis-
agreement and 5 – strong agreement with the statement.
The following hypotheses were formulated:
H1: Practitioners value ethics more than students do.
H2: For the oldest respondents, ethics is of the highest importance.
H3: Accounting majors value ethics more than respondents with business/economics
majors do.
3. Findings
3.1. General findings
Tables 2 and 3 list all 15 statements of both parts of the survey, as well as the mean
score for each statement.
The average score of 1.99 for the first 7 arguments partially demonstrated that, in
general, the respondents seem to agree with the idea that business ethics is not just
84 Natalja Gurvitsh, Jaan Alver, Lehte Alver
a moral code of conduct, but also an important tool for making managerial decisions,
as all respondents seem to be familiar with and aware of the definition and meaning of
business ethics (1.57), and that ethics merits more attention (1.77). The respondents
also demonstrated their independence in ethical behavior (4.28) claiming that if their
colleagues were to demonstrate unethical behavior, they would not support it.
Table 2. Total sample mean scores by statement for the first part
of the survey (1 = strongly agree, 5 = strongly disagree)
Statement Score
1. I am familiar with the term business/professional ethics. 1.57
2. There should be more focus on business ethics in Estonia, especially in
the mass media. 1.77
3. Competition must always be honest and ethical. 1.79
4. So-called „industrial espionage” (gathering data on our competitors) re-
quires me to be ethical. 1.85
5. The subject of business/professional ethics should certainly be a required
course in a college/university curriculum. 2.16
6. Business ethics interests me. 2.31
7. Business ethics is definitely affected by the industry. 2.52
Average score 1.99
8. If I notice that most of my colleagues are behaving unethically, I do the
same. 4.28
9. Persistent financial problems justify unethical behavior. 4.34
10. I behave unethically regardless of the financial situation, because I can-
not get very far with ethics in modern business. 4.37
Average score 4.33
Source: authors’ own compilation
The results (Table 3) clearly indicate that there is an equal opinion regarding the
current high importance of business/professional ethics in a modern business world and
the importance of the good reputation of the workplace (4.16 and 3.97, respectively).
Table 3. Total sample mean scores by statement for the second part
of the survey (1 = very low, 5 = very high)
Statement Score
1. Professional ethics at my workplace/university. 3.97
2. The importance/necessity of business ethics in the modern business
world. 4.16
On the role and place of business ethics in the modern business world – evidence from Estonia 85
Table 3. Total sample mean scores by statement for the second part
of the survey (1 = very low, 5 = very high) (cont.)
Statement Score
3. Which of the following is the most important: a) short-term benefit from
unethical behavior (1) b) good reputation of my workplace/university
(5)? Options 2–4 are also accepted. 4.47
4. My opinion of business ethics in Estonia. 2.81
Average score 3.85
5. How often do you behave (are forced to behave) unethically at your
workplace/university? (Very often – 5, never – 1). 1.78
Source: authors’ own compilation
The weakest arguments turned out to be the ones related to the implementation of
business ethics as a compulsory course in a college/university curriculum. The fact that
many respondents ranked business ethics in Estonia as „low” is also worth mentioning.
3.2. Comparison of students’ and practitioners’ scores
The survey sample consisted of graduate and undergraduate students and business prac-
titioners. It should be noted that as most bachelor students are not working yet, they
had to rate statements regarding professional ethics and the cases of their personal un-
ethical behavior concerning the situation in the university. Tables 4 and 5 show the
mean scores for each group for all 15 statements. Overall, these results demonstrated
that the practitioners are more concerned about ethics than the students and they
demonstrated fewer cases of unethical behavior, while the undergraduate students seem
to be more skeptical and less interested in business ethics and expressed less agreement
with the statement that the subject of business/professional ethics should certainly be
a required course in a college/university curriculum.
Table 4. Comparison of students’ and practitioners’ scores for the
first part of the survey (1 = strongly agree, 5 = strongly disagree)
Statement BA MA Practitioners
1. I am familiar with the term business/professional
ethics. 1.65 1.61 1.43
2. There should be more focus on business ethics in Es-
tonia, especially in the mass media. 1.85 1.82 1.60
3. Competition must always be honest and ethical. 2.01 1.82 1.49
4. So-called „industrial espionage” (gathering data on
our competitors) requires me to be ethical. 2.08 1.86 1.62
86 Natalja Gurvitsh, Jaan Alver, Lehte Alver
Table 4. Comparison of students’ and practitioners’ scores for the
first part of the survey (1 = strongly agree, 5 = strongly disagree) (cont.)
Statement BA MA Practitioners
5. The subject of business/professional ethics should
certainly be a required course in a college/university
curriculum. 2.35 2.31 1.72
6. Business ethics interests me. 2.48 2.35 2.09
7. Business ethics is definitely affected by the industry. 2.32 2.53 2.68
Average score 2.11 2.04 1.80
8. If I notice that most of my colleagues are behaving
unethically, I do the same. 4.15 4.18 4.57
9. Persistent financial problems justify unethical be-
havior. 4.22 4.36 4.43
10. I behave unethically regardless of the financial situ-
ation, because I cannot get very far with ethics in
modern business. 4.17 4.40 4.52
Average score 4.18 4.31 4.51
Source: authors’ own compilation
It is also worth mentioning that significant differences in responses were demon-
strated for the argument stating that competition must always be honest and ethical
(2.01 compared to 1.82 and 1.49) and that industrial espionage requires a person to be
ethical (2.08 compared to 1.86 and 1.62).
Hypothesis H1 was tested and fully accepted. The average score for statements 1–7
for practitioners (1.80) is much lower than for the BA (2.11) and MA (2.04) students,
respectively. Practitioners also had the lowest means for all statements 1–6. This indi-
cates that practitioners are more ethical than students. For statements 8–10, the average
score for practitioners (4.51) is also higher than for BA (4.18) and MA (4.31) students.
It should be noted that the graduate students had a lower average score (2.04) than the
undergraduates (2.11). They also had lower means for all statements 1–6. This leads to
the conclusion that graduate students are more ethical than undergraduates.
Table 5 shows the mean scores for each group for the second part of the survey.
Table 5. Comparison of students’ and practitioners’ scores
for the second part of the survey (1 = very low, 5 = very high)
Statement BA MA Practitioners
1. The standard of professional ethics at my work-
place/university. 3.77 4.01 4.09
2. The importance/necessity of business ethics in the
modern business world. 4.03 4.17 4.26
On the role and place of business ethics in the modern business world – evidence from Estonia 87
Table 5. Comparison of students’ and practitioners’ scores
for the second part of the survey (1 = very low, 5 = very high) (cont.)
Statement BA MA Practitioners
3. Which of the following is the most important:
a) short-term benefit from unethical behavior (1)
b) good reputation of my workplace/university (5)?
Options 2–4 are also accepted. 4.24 4.51 4.63
4. My opinion of business ethics in Estonia. 2.86 2.80 2.77
Average score 3.73 3.87 3.94
5. How often do you behave (are forced to behave) un-
ethically at your workplace/university? (Very often
– 5, never – 1). 1.90 1.68 1.83
Source: authors’ own compilation
It is worth mentioning that significant differences in responses were demonstrated for
the argument asking the participants to rank professional ethics at their workplace/uni-
versity, where the practitioners expressed the highest score (score 4.09). In addition,
they showed the highest rating for the preference of the good reputation of their work-
place over the short-term benefit from unethical behavior.
3.3. Comparisons based on age
A number of studies have examined age in conjunction with views on various ethical
issues. Numerous studies suggested that people seem to become more ethical as they
get older (Ruegger and King, 1992; Rest, 1983; Serwenek, 1992). Presumably, with
age, people seem to be more cautious and they are unwilling to either take additional
risks or contravene valid laws and legislations. Younger people seem to be more risk-
prone and are ready for new challenges, which often means that the end justifies the
means, and earning money justifies unethical behavior.
Tables 6 and 7 show the statistical data for four age groups. The sample sizes for
each age category were sufficiently large to do some score comparisons. The findings
of the survey clearly indicate that, with age, people seem to be more familiar with pro-
fessional and business ethics, they think ethics deserves more attention, and they are
more interested in business ethics. It is also worth mentioning that the group of respond-
ents older than 45 seemed to be most familiar with the term business/professional ethics
(1.30), think that more attention should be paid to business ethics in Estonia today, and
that this subject should be included in a college/university curriculum. It is obvious that
people under the age of 26 expressed the least agreement with the statement that busi-
ness ethics should be a compulsory course in colleges and universities (2.43), while
people older than 45 strongly agreed with this statement (1.61), which in the authors’
opinion may be explained by the fact that, due to their age, young people had not been
88 Natalja Gurvitsh, Jaan Alver, Lehte Alver
involved much in ethical conflicts and had not faced the need to obtain knowledge and
skills in business ethics.
Based on the mean scores in Table 6, it can be assumed that older people have stronger
moral principles influenced by their experience and different situations at work. The
authors would also suggest that the oldest group of respondents have a strong belief
that people should treat others the way they want to be treated themselves, and they
consider this postulate natural for people.
Table 6. Comparison of scores by age for the first part
of the survey (1 = strongly agree, 5 = strongly disagree)
Statement < 26 26-35 36–45 > 45
1. I am familiar with the term business/professional
ethics. 1.68 1.58 1.52 1.30
2. There should be more focus on business ethics in
Estonia, especially in the mass media. 1.95 1.73 1.61 1.51
3. Competition must always be honest and ethical. 2.03 1.70 1.55 1.50
4. So-called „industrial espionage” (gathering data on
our competitors) requires me to be ethical. 2.02 1.80 1.76 1.56
5. The subject of business/professional ethics should
certainly be a required course in a college/univer-
sity curriculum. 2.43 2.17 1.89 1.61
6. Business ethics interests me. 2.54 2.36 2.05 1.84
7. Business ethics is definitely affected by the indus-
try. 2.24 2.68 2.68 2.81
Average score 2.13 2.00 1.87 1.75
8. If I notice that most of my colleagues are behaving
unethically, I do the same. 4.12 4.26 4.49 4.50
9. Persistent financial problems justify unethical be-
havior. 4.26 4.37 4.37 4.49
10. I behave unethically regardless of the financial sit-
uation, because I cannot get very far with ethics in
modern business. 4.21 4.45 4.47 4.54
Average score 4.20 4.36 4.45 4.51
Source: authors’ own compilation
Hypothesis H2 was tested and fully accepted. The average score for statements 1–7
by age > 45 years (1.75) was the lowest, and the means of statements 1–6 were the third
lowest as well. Furthermore, the average score for statements 1–7 by age 36–45 (1.87)
was the second lowest, as were the means of statements 1–6. Finally, yet importantly,
the average score for statements 1–7 by age 26–35 (1.87) was the third lowest, and the
On the role and place of business ethics in the modern business world – evidence from Estonia 89
means of statements 1–6 were also the third lowest. This clearly indicates that the older
respondents are more concerned about general ethical problems. The scores of state-
ments 8–10 support this conclusion. The average scores for age > 45 (4.51) and for age
36–45 (4.45), respectively, confirm that people in these age groups are somewhat more
ethical than the younger ones are.
The young generation, under the age of 26, expressed the least disagreement with
statements 8–10 regarding possible cases of unethical behavior, although their average
score (4.20) was quite high. For statements 8–10, the average scores for age > 45 (4.51)
and for age 36–45 (4.45), respectively, confirm that they are somewhat more ethical.
Table 7. Comparison of scores by age for the second part of
the survey (1 = very low, 5 = very high)
Statement < 26 26-35 36–45 > 45
1. Professional ethics at my workplace/university. 3.85 4.10 4.01 3.99
2. The importance/necessity of business ethics in the
modern business world. 4.07 4.17 4.30 4.21
3. Which of the following is the most important:
a) short-term benefit from unethical behavior (1)
b) good reputation of my workplace/university (5)?
Options 2–4 are also accepted. 4.30 4.60 4.60 4.56
4. My opinion of business ethics in Estonia. 2.90 2.76 2.77 2.69
Average score 3.78 3.91 3.92 3.86
5. How often do you behave (are forced to behave)
unethically at your workplace/university? (Very
often – 5, never – 1). 1.75 1.74 1.82 1.93
Source: authors’ own compilation
The second part (statements 11–14 in Table 7) shows that the average score is al-
most the same, the variation is only 0.14. It should also be noted that the oldest group
of respondents showed the lowest score for their opinion on business ethics in Estonia
(2.69). In the authors’ opinion, that can be explained by the fact that they are forced to
behave unethically at their workplace more often than the other groups of respondents
(1.93 compared to 1.75, 1.74, and 1.82, respectively).
3.4. Comparisons by academic major
A large number of professional studies have been performed in order to find the reasons
for one professional group being more or less ethical than another. Jeffrey (1993) and
Arlow (1992) stated that the ethical development of accounting students is higher than
that of students with a different specialization. The findings of Lane (1988), Mayer
(1988), and Gray et al. (1994) revealed that an accounting and business education has
90 Natalja Gurvitsh, Jaan Alver, Lehte Alver
a negative influence on the ethical development of students. The authors of this paper
investigated the effect of academic major on professional ethics. The results of the com-
parison by the academic majors are presented in Tables 8 and 9.
Table 8. Comparison of scores by major for the first part
of the survey (1 = strongly agree, 5 = strongly disagree)
Statement Accounting Business &
Economics Other
1. I am familiar with the term business/professional
ethics. 1.55 1.51 1.80
2. There should be more focus on business ethics in
Estonia, especially in the mass media. 1.74 1.80 1.80
3. Competition must always be honest and ethical. 1.70 1.96 1.70
4. So-called „industrial espionage” (gathering data
on our competitors) requires me to be ethical. 1.82 1.94 1.81
5. The subject of business/professional ethics
should certainly be a required course in a col-
lege/university curriculum. 2.03 2.23 2.49
6. Business ethics interests me. 2.18 2.44 2.52
7. Business ethics is definitely affected by the in-
dustry. 2.49 2.61 2.43
Average score 1.93 2.07 2.08
8. If I notice that most of my colleagues are behav-
ing unethically, I do the same. 4.33 4.24 4.16
9. Persistent financial problems justify unethical
behavior. 4.27 4.45 4.36
10. I behave unethically regardless of the financial
situation, because I cannot get very far with eth-
ics in modern business. 4.44 4.24 4.38
Average score 4.35 4.31 4.30
Source: authors’ own compilation
The results show that, in most cases, the accounting majors demonstrated the highest
scores except for the arguments stating that persistent financial problems justify uneth-
ical behavior (4.27 compared to 4.45 and 4.36). They also seemed to be somewhat less
familiar with professional and business ethics than business/economics majors were
(1.55 compared to 1.51).
Hypothesis H3 was tested and accepted. The average score for statements 1–7 for
accounting majors (1.93) is lower than for business/economics majors (2.07), indicating
On the role and place of business ethics in the modern business world – evidence from Estonia 91
that accounting majors are more concerned about general ethical problems. However,
for statements 8–10, the average score for accounting majors (4.35) is almost the same
as for other groups (the variation is only 0.05), indicating that all groups’ behavior is
equally ethical.
Table 9 shows the breakdown of scores by academic major; no significant differ-
ences in responses were observed.
Table 9. Comparison of scores by major for the second
part of the survey (1 = very low, 5 = very high)
Statement Accounting Business &
Economics Other
1. Professional ethics at my workplace/university. 3.98 3.90 4.06
2. The importance/necessity of business ethics in
the modern business world. 4.16 4.18 4.10
3. Which of the following is the most important:
a) short-term benefit from unethical behavior (1)
b) good reputation of my workplace/university
(5)? Options 2–4 are also accepted. 4.54 4.46 4.27
4. My opinion of business ethics in Estonia. 2.75 2.88 2.87
Average score 3.86 3.86 3.83
5. How often do you behave (are forced to behave)
unethically at your workplace/university? (Very
often – 5, never – 1). 1.73 1.88 1.76
Source: authors’ own compilation
The second part (Table 9) shows that the average score is almost the same (the var-
iation is only 0.03). It can be stated that accounting majors seem to show relatively
fewer cases of unethical behavior at their workplace/university (1.73 compared to 1.76
and 1.88). Accounting majors have shown the weakest score for the argument asking
for their opinion of business ethics in Estonia (2.75), while students specializing in
business and economics demonstrated the highest score for the argument stating that,
today, business ethics is a matter of high importance. In general, it should be noted that
all scores were quite close.
3.5. Gender differences
Numerous studies in business and accounting ethics are dedicated to the question of the
dependence of ethical behavior on gender. Tables 10 and 11 show the scores for each
statement divided by gender category.
These scores indicate that women seem to be more familiar with business ethics
(1.44 compared to 1.84) and are more interested in business ethics as an object of study
92 Natalja Gurvitsh, Jaan Alver, Lehte Alver
(2.21 compared to 2.61). They also think that business ethics should be taught in colleges
and universities on a compulsory basis, while men tend to disagree with this statement.
Men also seem to care less than women about ethics in the case of getting important
business information (2.18 and 1.74 respectively) or entering into a business competi-
tion (1.99 and 1.71 respectively).
Table 10. Comparison of male and female scores for the first part
of the survey (1 = strongly agree, 5 = strongly disagree)
Statement Male Female Score larger by
Male Female
1. I am familiar with the term business/professional
ethics. 1.84 1.44 0.40
2. There should be more focus on business ethics in
Estonia, especially in the mass media. 1.85 1.74 0.11
3. Competition must always be honest and ethical. 1.99 1.71 0.28
4. So-called „industrial espionage” (gathering data on
our competitors) requires me to be ethical. 2.18 1.74 0.44
5. The subject of business/professional ethics should
certainly be a required course in a college/univer-
sity curriculum. 2.51 2.04 0.47
6. Business ethics interests me. 2.61 2.21 0.40
7. Business ethics is definitely affected by the indus-
try. 2.43 2.55 0.12
Average score 2.20 1.93 0.27
8. If I notice that most of my colleagues are behaving
unethically, I do the same. 4.07 4.35 0.28
9. Persistent financial problems justify unethical be-
havior. 4.38 4.33 0.05
10. I behave unethically regardless of the financial sit-
uation, because I cannot get very far with ethics in
modern business. 4.21 4.43 0.22
Average score 4.22 4.37 0.15
Source: authors’ own compilation
The results of the second part of the survey indicate that in Estonia women care
more about the good reputation of the workplace than men (4.54 and 4.28 respectively)
and they also rank the requirements of business ethics in the modern world higher than
men (4.20 and 4.04 respectively).
On the role and place of business ethics in the modern business world – evidence from Estonia 93
Table 11. Comparison of male and female scores for the second
part of the survey (1 = very low, 5 = very high)
Statement Male Female Score larger by
Male Female
1. Professional ethics at my workplace/university. 3.89 4.00 0.11
2. The importance/necessity of business ethics in the
modern business world. 4.04 4.20 0.16
3. Which of the following is the most important:
a) short-term benefit from unethical behavior (1)
b) good reputation of my workplace/university (5)?
Options 2–4 are also accepted. 4.28 4.54 0.26
4. My opinion of business ethics in Estonia. 2.78 2.82 0.04
Average score 3.52 3.62 0.10
5. How often do you behave (are forced to behave)
unethically at your workplace/university? (Very
often – 5, never – 1). 1.88 1.75 0.13
Source: authors’ own compilation
It is also worth mentioning that both men and women were not of a very high opinion
of business ethics in Estonia (2.78 and 2.82 respectively), but women ranked profes-
sional ethics at work higher than men (4.00 compared to 3.89).
Conclusions
The present study examined how important business ethics is for Estonian business
students and practitioners.
The survey discovered that in Estonia people are familiar with business ethics, how-
ever, there was not much interest expressed in this issue. In general, business ethics in
Estonia was not ranked as „high”, which was also the case both for professional ethics
at the workplace/university and also the importance and necessity of ethics in the mod-
ern business world.
Hypothesis H1 was tested and fully accepted. It was also found that graduate stu-
dents are more concerned with ethical issues than undergraduates are. Hypothesis H2
was also tested and fully accepted. Furthermore, based on four age groups, a clear ten-
dency of rising professional ethics with increasing age was determined. Hypothesis H3
was tested and accepted, however not as clearly as hypotheses H1 and H2 were.
Other findings. At first, the standpoint that professional and business ethics are tak-
ing an important place and role in everyday business life and are implemented in most
94 Natalja Gurvitsh, Jaan Alver, Lehte Alver
workplaces has been expressed. Nevertheless, not enough attention is paid to this mat-
ter, especially in the mass media and at universities. Secondly, professional ethics
should become a compulsory course in the curriculum in HEIs, and training sessions
of personnel should include various professional/business ethics modules. Employees
should clearly understand the importance of professional ethics, and the risks related to
unethical behavior at the workplace and in business competitions. Thirdly, there is
a clear understanding among business/accounting students and practitioners that pro-
fessional ethics is important, required, and independent of financial problems and com-
mon behavior in particular situations. In the authors’ opinion, this may be partly ex-
plained by the rise and rapid growth of the corporate social responsibility and social
value concept, where ethics is an inevitable and vital factor. It is also worth mentioning
that the growing concern of stakeholders about the ethical behavior of companies would
serve as a „watchdog” for the vital role and place of professional ethics in the modern
business world today.
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